Parallels 4 Released Today: How Does It Compare to Fusion?

Virtualization software has come a long way since the days of Virtual PC on PPC Macs. Microsoft’s Windows-enabling program was more of a parlor trick than fully functional software. These days, Parallels Desktop version 4.0, available today for purchase, makes running a virtual machine more of a pleasure and less of a chore.

Earlier this fall, VMWare Fusion, the primary competitor of Parallels, released version 2.0 of their software. VMWare’s updated product added DirectX 9.0c and Mac OS X Leopard Server support, features which gave it a significant edge over the 3.0 release of Parallels. Parallels Desktop 4.0 evens the field, introducing both DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.1 support, and the ability to run OS X Leopard Server.